Method apparatus and business system for online communications with online and offline recipients

ABSTRACT

The present invention comprises a method, apparatus and business system for allowing on-line communications with members of a group of recipients for whom the invention has been implemented. A group may, for example, comprise members of a particular business or profession. For example, a group may consist of doctors admitted to practice medicine in the United States. Individual members of the group may or may not have existing internet presences. The invention allows online users to communicate with each member of a given group regardless of whether or not the member has an existing internet presence. In one or more embodiments, the invention does so by setting up a database of contact information for members of the group, creating an internet presence for each member of such group, creating an on-line user interface allowing a user to access the member&#39;s created internet presence, and providing means of communications between the created internet presence and the member recipient.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/747,881 entitled “Method, apparatus and businesssystem for online communications with online and offline recipients,”filed Dec. 29, 2003, now abandoned which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/447,755 entitled “Method, apparatus andbusiness system for online communications with online and offlinerecipients,” filed Nov. 23, 1999, issued Dec. 30, 2003 as U.S. Pat. No.6,671,714.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of online communications, andmore particularly to a method, apparatus, and business system for onlinecommunications with diverse online and offline recipients.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The internet is rapidly becoming a preferred means of communication forprofessionals, businesses and consumers. Communications conducted viathe internet include sending and receiving e-mail messages anddisseminating information via web sites. But even for the most “wired”businesses and professions, internet usage is less than 100%.Accordingly, heretofore there has always existed a degree of uncertaintyas to whether an internet user who wishes to communicate with a givenbusiness or professional (such as, for example, a doctor or a dentist)via the internet will be able to do so because the intended recipientmay or may not have an existing internet presence that can receive theuser's online communication.

Even if the intended recipient has an appropriate internet presence, asecond element of uncertainty exists with respect to locating the propere-mail address or website URL for the intended recipient. Although anumber of online search and directory services exist that are intendedto help a user locate the website or e-mail address of a business orperson with which the user desires to communicate, use of suchdirectories is tedious and often unsuccessful.

The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art byproviding a method, apparatus and business system that allow a user toquickly communicate online with a member of a particular business,professional or other group regardless of whether the member has aninternet presence (e.g. e-mail address or website) and without the userneeding to know or find the internet address for the recipient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a method, apparatus and business systemfor allowing on-line communications with members of a group ofrecipients for whom the invention has been implemented. A group may, forexample, comprise members of a particular business or profession. Forexample, a group may consist of doctors admitted to practice in theUnited States. Individual members of the group may or may not haveexisting internet presences (as used herein, the term “internetpresence” refers to an internet e-mail address and/or website, or othermeans for receiving or sending communications via the internet). Theinvention allows online users to communicate with each member of a givengroup regardless of whether or not the member has an existing internetpresence. In one or more embodiments, the invention does so by settingup a database of contact information for members of the group, creatingan internet presence for each member of such group, creating an on-lineuser interface allowing a user to access the member's created internetpresence, and providing means of communications between the createdinternet presence and the member recipient. The invention allows a userto communicate with an intended recipient who is a member of a group forwhich an embodiment of the invention has been implemented using thecreated internet presence, regardless of whether or not the recipienthas a pre-existing internet presence. In one or more embodiments, if therecipient has a pre-existing internet presence, online communicationsfrom a user are transparently forwarded from the created internetpresence to the recipient's existing internet presence. In one or moreembodiments, a “reply to” address is created for a sender/user and addedto e-mail messages sent by the user so that any reply message from therecipient will be returned to the sender via the sender's createdaddress. In one or more embodiments, when a sender's e-mail message isreplied to by the recipient, the reply message's “reply-to” address isreplaced with a created e-mail address for the recipient, so that thereply appears to have been sent from the recipient's created e-mailaddress even if it has been sent from a different e-mail address. In oneor more embodiments, if an intended recipient has no pre-existinginternet presence, online communications from a user are converted intoone or more forms of offline communications, according to informationcontained in the contact database. For example, in one or moreembodiments, e-mail messages from a user sent via the created internetpresence of an offline recipient are converted to fax messages,voice-mail messages, or other off-line forms of communications (as usedherein, the term “online” refers to communications via the internet,whereas the term “offline” refers to non-internet communications), asappropriate. In one or more embodiments, means are provided forreceiving reply messages from an offline recipient via offline means,converting such messages to online messages, and delivering them to theoriginal user with the appearance of having originated from the createdinternet presence of the original recipient. The present invention is amethod and system for online selection of contestants for online oroffline competitions that uses objective selection criteria and allowsthe participation by members of the general public. It also provides aneffective marketing and revenue generating mechanism as part of thecontestant section process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating functional components of anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a user interface that may be used with one ormore embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 3 shows the user interface of FIG. 2 with information that has beenentered by a user.

FIG. 4 shows the user interface of FIG. 3 after a dialog box hasappeared.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing method steps used in an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing method steps used in an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing method steps used in an embodiment of theinvention.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are flow charts showing method steps used in anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a member webpage that may be used with one ormore embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a computer system that may be used withone or more embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a method, apparatus and business systemfor conducting online communications with online and offline recipients.In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough description of the invention. However, it will beapparent to one skilled in the art that the invention may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-known featureshave not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention.

The present invention allows a user (also sometimes referred herein as a“sender”) to communicate via the internet with a recipient who is amember of a group for which the invention has been implemented. Forexample, the group may be all doctors admitted to the practice ofmedicine in the United States, and the user may be a patient who wouldlike to communicate via e-mail with his or her doctor. The patient doesnot need to know the e-mail address or website URL of the intendedrecipient, and the intended recipient may or may not have an existinge-mail address and/or website URL.

In the following discussion, the invention will at times be describedwith respect to a patient wishing to communicate with a doctor. However,it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention isnot limited to patients communicating with doctors, but may be used forfacilitating online communications with members of any group for whichthe invention has been implemented.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing components used in an embodimentof the invention. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a user who wants tocommunicate with a recipient uses the user's computer 100 and aninternet connection 105 to communicate with an interface server computer110. In one or more embodiments, the user utilizes a web browser such asNetscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer running in usercomputer 100 to access a website hosted by interface server 110(interface server 110 may be implemented as a dedicated server computer,a virtual server hosted by an internet service provider (“ISP”), as asystem of multiple interconnected computers, or may be implemented inany other appropriate manner). Interface server 110 provides aninterface to user computer 100 (for example in the form of one or moreweb pages) that allows the user to select the intended recipient andspecify the form of communication the user would like to use (e.g.sending an e-mail message or visiting the recipient's website).

Interface server 110 is connected to a contact data base 115 thatcontains contact information for one or more groups of recipients. Database 115 may be directly connected to interface server 110, or may beconnected to interface server 110 by the internet or by any othernetwork or other telecommunications means. Data base 115 may comprise adata base server system, data base files accessible by a data basemanager program, or any other form of data base system that can storeand retrieve contact information. In one or more embodiments, contactdata base 115 comprises a plurality of data sources that can be searchedby interface server 110 for contact information. For example, contactdata base 115 may comprise one or more online directory servers, suchas, for example, www.411.com or www.switchboard.com, that can besearched by interface server 110. Furthermore, contact data base 115need not comprise a separate system but may be integrated into interfaceserver 110.

In addition to user computer 100, interface server 110 and contact database 115, the embodiment of FIG. 1 also includes various means by whicha recipient may receive communications from a user (the terms “user” and“sender” are used interchangeably herein). In the embodiment of FIG. 1,these means include a recipient computer or other internet access device125, a recipient fax machine 135, and a recipient telephone 140.Internet access device 125 may be used when a recipient has anappropriate existing online presence. Fax machine 135 and telephone 140may be used when a recipient does not have an appropriate existingonline presence. It will be noted that these recipient communicationsdevices are examples only and any other kind of communications devicesmay also be used. An “appropriate existing online presence” is anexisting e-mail address or website known and accessible to the interfaceserver 110. The embodiment of FIG. 1 also includes communications meanssuch as an internet connection 120 and a telecommunications connection130 by which interface server 110 can send communications to therecipients' communications devices 125, 135 and 140.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing method steps used for sending acommunication from a user/sender to a recipient using an embodiment ofthe invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the process starts when a senderwishing to communicate with a member of a group for which the inventionhas been implemented accesses the interface server's web site at step500. The sender may access the interface server's web site, for example,by using the sender's computer, internet connection and browser softwareand specifying the interface server's URL. For example, in oneembodiment of the invention in which the group for which the inventionhas been implemented is doctors licensed to practice medicine in theUnited States, the sender may access the interface server's website byspecifying the URL “www.everymd.com.” In the discussion below, theinterface server's URL is sometimes referred to as“www.interfaceserver.com”. However, any other URL may be used. It willbe noted that the sender may abort the process of FIG. 5 at any time bygoing to a different URL, exiting the user's browser software, orotherwise terminating the sender's connection with the interface server.

Upon receiving a request from the sender to access the interfaceserver's website, the interface server provides a user interface to thesender at step 505. The interface may, for example, be provided in theform of a webpage that utilizes hypertext markup language (HTML).

After receiving the user interface (for example in the form of HTMLcode) from the interface server, the sender enters information intoappropriate fields as indicated in the user interface. For example, inthe embodiment of FIG. 5, the sender enters identifying information forthe sender at step 506 and identifying information for the recipient atstep 507. For example, the sender may enter the sender's name, telephonenumber, and e-mail address at step 506 and the last name, city and stateof the desired recipient at step 507. If known, the sender may alsoprovide additional information, such as the recipient's street addressor street name. In one or more embodiments, if the sender has previouslyvisited the interface server's website, some or all of the sender'spreviously entered sender and recipient identifying information may beretrieved using “cookies” previously set by the interface server.

After entering the recipient identifying information at step 507, thesender selects the desired action from choices provided by the userinterface at step 509. In one or more embodiments, the choices providedby the user interface include visiting the recipient's website (forexample to obtain additional information about the recipient) andsending the recipient an e-mail message. If the sender's desired actionis to send an e-mail message, the selection step 509 includes the senderentering the desired e-mail message.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a user interface 200 that may be used in oneor more embodiments of the invention. The user interface of FIG. 2 isfor an embodiment of the invention that has been implemented for a groupthat comprises doctors admitted to practice medicine in the UnitedStates. In this example, the URL of the interface server is“EVERYMD.COM.” In the embodiment of FIG. 2, user interface 200 includesa sender information entry area 210, a recipient information entry area205, an e-mail message text entry area 215, and control buttons 220,225, and 230. To use interface 200 of FIG. 2, a user enters the user'sname, address, phone number and e-mail address in the appropriate textfields in sender information area 210. The sender also enters the name,city, state, and street location, if known, of the intended recipient(who, in the example of FIG. 2, is a doctor) in the appropriate fieldsof recipient information area 205. If the user wants to send an e-mailmessage to the recipient, the user may also enter e-mail message textinto e-mail message text entry area 215. The user may clear any textentered into text entry area 215 by clicking on “Clear” control button220.

FIG. 3 shows an example of user interface 200 after information has beenentered by a user into entry areas 210, 205 and 215. After theinformation is entered by the sender, the sender may select the sender'sdesired action. The user may click on “Visit Website” control button 230to visit the recipient's website, or on “Send” control button 225 tosend the e-mail message entered in e-mail message entry area 215 to therecipient.

Returning to FIG. 5, at step 511, the interface server queries thecontact data base using the recipient identifying information providedby the user to determine whether the intended recipient is found in thecontact data base. In one or more embodiments, the data base will returnexact matches and close matches. In one or more embodiments, the database will always return at least one closest match.

At step 515, the interface server provides a list of the possiblerecipients retrieved from the data base to the user. An example of sucha list is shown in FIG. 4 as pop-up box 400. At step 516, the userexamines the list and determines whether or not the desired recipient islisted. If the intended recipient is not listed, the sender indicatesthat the recipient is not listed at step 518 (for example by clicking on“Not Listed” button 415 of FIG. 4), and the interface server displays amessage to the sender acknowledging that the recipient was not found. Inone or more embodiments, the interface server may display a messagerequesting additional information about the intended recipient andoffering to attempt to locate the intended recipient within 24 hours orsome other period of time.

If the intended recipient is on the list, the sender selects theintended recipient (for example by moving a cursor over the name of theintended recipient and clicking a button on a cursor control device suchas a mouse, or by clicking on one of selection buttons 405 and 410 ofFIG. 4) at step 517. At step 520 the interface server retrieves contactinformation for the selected recipient from the contact data base. Forexample, the contact information may include an indication of whether ornot the recipient has an existing website or e-mail address, and, if so,identify the URL of the existing website or the existing e-mail address.The contact information data base may also include additionalinformation, such as a count of the number of times that a particularrecipient has been contacted via the facilities provided by theinterface server, whether the recipient has replied, whether therecipient has indicated a preferred mode to be contacted, etc.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, after step 520, a determination is made atstep 525 as to whether the sender's desired action is to send an e-mailmessage or to visit the recipient's website.

If the action selected by the sender is to visit the recipient'swebpage, the method continues at step 530. At step 530, the sender'sbrowser is linked to the recipient's website and the recipient's homepage displayed on the sender's browser, as is well known in the art. Therecipient's website may be an existing website of the recipient, or maybe a website that has been created for the recipient, for example usingthe method described below with respect to FIG. 6. In one or moreembodiments of the invention, if the website that is displayed is apre-existing website (as opposed to a created website) the recipientswebsite is displayed in a frame, with another frame containingnavigational controls allowing the sender to easily return to theinterface server's website. At step 535, the interface server sends therecipient an e-mail informing the recipient that a sender has visitedthe recipient's website. The e-mail may be sent, for example, using themethods for sending e-mail of the invention. Where the recipient'swebsite that has been visited is a created website, the e-mail may alsocontain instructions informing the recipient of how the recipient mayaccess, and/or edit, and/or otherwise modify or provide additionalinformation for the recipient's created website. The e-mail message inone or more embodiments may also contain information describing servicesprovided by the interface server.

If the sender's action selected at step 509 is to send an e-mailmessage, after step 525, the embodiment of FIG. 5 continues from step525 to step 540. At step 540, the interface server inspects the contactdata for the intended recipient received at step 520 to determinewhether the recipient has an active e-mail address. An “active” e-mailaddress is an address that is known to have been actually used by therecipient. An “active” e-mail address is distinguished herein from ane-mail address that has been created by for the recipient but that hasnot yet been accessed by the recipient. As described in greater detailbelow, in one or more embodiments of the invention, an e-mail box iscreated for each member of the group for which the invention is beingimplemented. If the member is known to be using a different e-mailaddress, the created e-mail box may be linked to the existing e-mail boxsuch that e-mail messages sent to the created e-mail box areautomatically forwarded to the existing e-mail box. An e-mail box isconsidered to be inactive if it has been created for a recipient, buthas not yet been accessed by the recipient.

If it is determined at step 540 that the recipient has an active e-mailaddress, the sender's e-mail message is delivered to that e-mail box atstep 560, and a message informing the sender that the e-mail message hasbeen delivered to the recipient is delivered at step 565. The messagedelivered to the sender may include a statement that although thesender's message has been delivered to the recipient's e-mail address,there is no guarantee that the recipient will actually read the message.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are block diagrams, respectively, of processes used inone or more embodiments of the invention to deliver an e-mail messagefrom a sender to a recipient who has an existing e-mail address, and fordelivering a reply from the recipient to the sender.

The process of FIG. 8A may be used, for example, at step 560 of theembodiment of FIG. 5. The process starts after the sender has composedan e-mail message and has selected the desired recipient. The processmay also be used, for example, with e-mail messages that have been sentto a mailbox that has been created for a recipient using normal e-mailchannels (as opposed to a message that has been created and sent usingthe user interface provided by the interface server of the invention).

At step 800, an e-mail address using the naming convention of theinterface server is created for the sender. For example, if the sender'sname is “Joe Smith” and the interface server's domain name is“interfaceserver.com”, the address “jsmith@interfaceserver.com” may becreated for the sender. More generally, e-mail addresses created for thesender may be of the form “[sendername]@interfaceserver.com.”

As is well known to those skilled in the art, e-mail messages mayinclude information about the sender, including the sender's “reply to”and/or “from” e-mail address. The inclusion of the sender's “reply to”e-mail address allows the recipient to easily “reply to” the sender'se-mail message by entering a “reply” command typically provided bye-mail client programs.

In the embodiment of FIG. 8A, at step 805, the sender's existing e-mailaddress (obtained, for example, from a field in the user interfaceprovided by the interface server, or from “reply to” informationextracted from the sender's original e-mail message) and the sender'screated address (that was created at step 800) are stored in a contactinformation database (which may or may not be the same as the contactdata base that contains recipient contact information, such as contactdata base 115 of FIG. 1). At step 810, the created e-mail address forthe sender is added to the sender's e-mail message as the “reply to”address for the e-mail message. If the e-mail message includes apre-existing “reply to” address for the sender, the existing address isreplaced with the created address. For example, if the sender is sendinga message from “jsmith123@aol.com” to“drjamesjones@interfaceserver.com”, the interface server will replacethe sender's original “jsmith123@aol.com” “reply to” e-mail address withthe created address, “jsmith@interfaceserver.com”. When the recipientreplies to the message by using a “reply to” command, the reply messagewill then be sent to “jsmith@interfaceserver.com” instead of directly to“jsmith123@aol.com.” That way, messages between sender and recipient allpass through the interface server, allowing the interface server tomodify the “reply to” e-mail addresses of each communication between asender and recipient such that all messages appear to have come from ane-mail account at the interface server. That helps the interface serverbuild its brand identity and helps promote repeat visits to theinterface server's website.

After the created e-mail address has been added as the “reply to”address to the sender's e-mail message at step 810, the e-mail isforwarded to the recipient's existing (active) e-mail address at step815.

FIG. 8B shows a corresponding process that may be used in one of moreembodiments for forwarding a reply message from the original recipientto the original sender. The process may also be used for forwarding anyother e-mail messages received at the sender's created e-mail address.

The process starts at step 850 when a message is received by theinterface server addressed to the e-mail address that has been createdby the interface server for the sender (e.g.“[sendername]@interfaceserver.com”). After the e-mail message isreceived, the source (sender) of the message is identified at step 855from sender and “reply to” information contained in the e-mail message.At step 860 a determination is made as to whether the source of themessage is a member of the group for which the invention has beenimplemented, or is otherwise someone for whom an e-mail address has beencreated at the interface server. Such a determination may be made, forexample, by comparing the source information identified at step 855 withinformation contained in the interface server's contact data base.

If it is determined at step 860 that the source of the e-mail message issomeone for whom an e-mail address has been created at the interfaceserver, then at step 865 any “from” and “reply to” information in thee-mail message that specifies a source e-mail address other than thecreated e-mail address is replaced with the created e-mail address atstep 865. For example, assume that the e-mail address“drjbrown@internetserver.com” has been created at the interface serverfor a Dr. John Brown. Assume further that Dr. John Brown already has apre-existing address, “jbrown451@aol.com”, and used that e-mail addressto send the e-mail message, and that “Jbrown451@aol.com” is specified asthe “from” and “reply to” addresses in the received e-mail. According tostep 865, all references to “Jbrown451@aol.com” in the e-mail messageare replaced with the created e-mail address“drjbrown@internetserver.com”. Thereafter, the message is forwarded tothe sender's existing e-mail address at step 870.

If it is determined at step 860 that the source of the reply message isnot a member of the group, the message is forwarded to the recipient atstep 870 without any changes being made to the “from” and “reply to”e-mail addresses listed in the e-mail.

Returning to FIG. 5, if it is determined at step 540 that the recipientdoes not have an active e-mail address, a determination is made at step545 (again using the information retrieved from the contact data base)as to whether a fax number is known for the recipient. If a fax numberis known, the sender's e-mail message is converted to a fax message andis transmitted to the recipients fax machine at step 545. In theembodiment of FIG. 5, a copy of the e-mail message is also sent to thee-mail box that has been created for the recipient at step 548, eventhough the created e-mail box may not be active (i.e. the e-mail box hasnot yet been accessed by the recipient). In one or more embodiments, inaddition to containing the sender's e-mail message, the fax sent to therecipient at step 547 may include information describing the servicesprovided by the interface server and/or instructions informing therecipient how the recipient may access the recipient's created e-mailbox and/or created website. The fax may also provide instructions to therecipient for responding to the fax message. For example, in one or moreembodiments, the fax message may specify fax and voice telephone numbersthat the recipient can use to send a reply message. In one or moreembodiments, voice and/or voice reply messages received at the specifiednumbers are converted to e-mail messages and forwarded to the originalsender's existing e-mail address. In one or more embodiments, therecipient's created e-mail address is inserted as the “reply to” addressof any such converted e-mail message.

After the e-mail message has been sent to the recipient via fax at step547, an e-mail message is sent to the sender at step 549 informing thesender that the sender's e-mail message has been delivered to therecipient via fax.

If no fax number for the recipient is found in the contact informationobtained from the contact data base at step 545, the e-mail message isconverted to a voice message at step 550 and delivered as a voicemessage to the recipient's telephone number at step 554. The process fordelivering such a voice message in one or more embodiments isillustrated in FIG. 7 and described below. A copy of the e-mail messageis delivered to the recipient's created e-mail box at step 556, and ane-mail message is sent to the sender at step 558 informing the senderthat the e-mail message has been delivered to the recipient's telephoneas a voice mail message. In one or more embodiments, the message sent tothe sender at step 558 may include a statement recommending the senderto follow up with a direct telephone call to the recipient's telephonenumber if the sender does not receive a response to the sender's messagewithin a certain period of time.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing steps of an automated process todeliver a sender's e-mail message to the recipient as a voice messagethat may be used in one or more embodiments of the invention. The methodof FIG. 7 may be used, for example, at steps 550 and 554 of theembodiment of FIG. 5.

In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the text of the sender's e-mail message isconverted to a voice message at step 700 using text-to-speech conversiontechniques that are well known in the art. At step 705, the recipient'stelephone number is dialed, and a response is awaited at step 710. Inone or more embodiments, a response may consist of a busy signal, anindication that the telephone has been answered, or some otherindication of the occurrence of an action at the recipient's end of thetelephone line.

At step 715, a determination is made as to whether the response receivedat step 710 comprises an indication that the recipient's telephone hasbeen answered. If the recipient's telephone has not been answered, theprocess proceeds to step 716, where a determination is made as towhether a specified redial limit has been exceeded. For example, aredial limit of 10 redial attempts may be used in one or moreembodiments of the invention. If the redial limit has been exceeded, ane-mail message is sent to the sender at step 717 informing the senderthat the sender's e-mail message could not be delivered at the presenttime. In one or more embodiments, the e-mail message sent to the sendermay include a statement that renewed attempts to deliver the e-mailmessage will be made at a subsequent time, for example during normalbusiness hours if the e-mail message was originally sent by the senderoutside of normal business hours.

If at step 715 it is determined that the redial limit has not yet beenexceeded, the process awaits the expiration of a redial period at step720 before redialing the recipient's telephone number at step 705.

If it is determined at step 715 that the recipient's telephone has beenanswered, a determination is made at step 725 as to whether audio isbeing transmitted from the recipient's telephone. Such audio may consistof, for example, of words spoken by a person answering the telephone(e.g. “Dr. Rosen's Office, how may I help you?”), or an audio messagedelivered by a voice mail system or telephone answering machine.

If it is determined that audio is being transmitted at step 725, the endof the audio transmission (e.g. the telephone answering machine orperson finishing the initial voice greeting) is awaited at step 730.Once the audio is completed, the process continues to step 735. If it isdetermined at step 725 that no audio is being transmitted at step 725,the process proceeds directly from step 725 to step 735.

At step 735, a voice message relating instructions to the recipient istransmitted to the recipient's telephone. For example, in one or moreembodiments, the instructions may consist of a statement indicating thata voice message is being delivered to the recipient and prompting therecipient to press one or more buttons on the recipient's telephone(e.g. “Please press *12 if you would like to receive the voicemessage”). The message may also include instructions informing therecipient how the recipient may retrieve the voice mail message bycalling a specified telephone number and keying in specified digits (incase the recipient's telephone is being answered by a voice mail systemor answering machine) and/or instructions on how the recipient may replyto the message via telephone, fax, or other means.

At step 740, a determination is made as to whether the message retrievecode specified in the instructions played at step 735 has beentransmitted by the recipient within a prescribed time period. If thetime period expires without receiving the message retrieve code, theprocess continues to step 716. If the retrieve code is received at step740, the voice mail message is delivered at step 745.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing process steps for setting up a contactdata base according to one or more embodiments of the invention. Asshown in FIG. 6, the members of the group for which the invention isbeing implemented and the contact data base is being created are definedat step 600. For example, the members in one embodiment are defined asdoctors admitted to practice medicine in the United States. At step 605,the type of contact information desired for the group is identified. Forexample, in one or more embodiments, the desired contact information fora member includes telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, andwebsite URL.

At step 610, sources of publicly available information for members ofthe group for which the contact data base is being created areidentified. In addition to publicly available information, other sourcesof information may also be used. For example, if the group for which theinvention is being implemented is doctors admitted to practice in theUnited States, sources of information used may include state boards ofhealth and/or other government and/or non-government agencies thatmaintain records about medical practitioners.

At step 615, a first member of the group is selected. At step 620, thesources of contact information identified at step 610 are queried forinformation about the selected member. At step 625 a determination ismade as to whether the desired contact information was found. If morethan one type of information is being sought, this determination ismade, and the succeeding steps are performed, for each type of contactinformation being sought.

If it is determined at step 625 that the desired contact information hasbeen found, that information is entered into the contact database atstep 630. In one or more embodiments, the contact information that hasbeen found may be designated as “existing” contact information.Thereafter, even though the desired contact information has been found,a new “point of contact” (as defined below), is created for the memberat step 635. A new point of contact is also created for the member if itis determined at step 625 that the desired contact information is notfound at step 625.

As used herein, a “point of contact” means a real or virtual location ormechanism that is set up for a member of a group for which the inventionis implemented to allow the member to receive contacts of the type forwhich contact information is being sought. For example, if the type ofcontact information that is being sought is an e-mail address, the pointof contact may comprise an e-mail account (e.g. a POP mailbox) set upfor the member. Similarly, if the type of contact information beingsought is the URL of a website, the point of contact may comprise awebsite set up for the member. For example, in an example embodiment ofthe invention in which the group for which the invention is beingimplemented is doctors licensed to practice medicine in the UnitedStates, e-mail boxes using a consistent naming convention based on theinterface server's URL are created for all doctors in the group,regardless of whether or not a doctor has an existing, different e-mailaddress and without any assistance from or even knowledge of the doctor.In addition, in such an embodiment, websites may also be created foreach doctor that contain non-private information about the doctor, suchas the doctor's address, credentials, publications, employment history,etc. An example of a website that may be created in one or moreembodiments of the invention is shown in FIG. 9.

The example website of FIG. 9 is a website that may be used in anembodiment of the invention in which the group for which the inventionhas been implemented is doctors admitted to practice medicine in theUnited States. The example website of FIG. 9 includes a simple home page900 that contains background information 910 about the doctor/member(including, in the embodiment of FIG. 9, the member's created e-mailaddress), as well as rating information 905, and control buttons 915,920, 925 and 930. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, rating information 905may be a numerical rating for a member derived from various criteria,including, for example, comments posted by users about the member. Inthe embodiment of FIG. 9, a user may post a comment by clicking on “PostComment” control button 925. In one or more embodiments, when “PostComment” control button is activated, a text entry window is displayedthat allows the user to enter a comment or otherwise rate the member.The other control buttons of home page 900 of FIG. 9 invoke otheractions. “View map” control button 915 displays a map indicating thelocation of the member's office. “Return to EVERYMD.COM Homepage”control button 930 returns the user to the interface server's home page.“Send E-mail” control button 920 activates a user interface that allowsthe user to send an e-mail to the member whose home page is currentlydisplayed. In one or more embodiments, if the member for whom thewebsite is being created has an existing website, home page 900 may alsocontain a link 935 to the member's existing website.

Returning to FIG. 6, after the new point of contact is created for amember at step 635, contact information for the newly created point ofcontact (e.g. e-mail address or website URL) is entered into the contactdatabase at step 640. In one or more embodiments, the contactinformation for the created point of contact is stored together with anidentifier that identifies the information as relating to a created, asopposed to a pre-existing, point of contact.

At step 650, a determination is made as to whether there are anyadditional members of the group for which contact information has notyet been generated. If there are additional members, a next member ofthe group is selected at step 660, and the process returns to step 620.If there are no further members, the process ends at step 655.

It should be noted that in one or more embodiments of the invention,every member of the group for which the invention is implemented isprovided with a website URL and an e-mail address. In one or moreembodiments of the invention, website URL's and e-mail addresses areestablished using a parallel form. For example, in one or moreembodiments, e-mail addresses are created in the general form “[firstinitial] [second initial] [lastname]@interfaceserver.com”, and websiteURL's are established in the general form “[first initial] [secondinitial] [lastname].interfaceserver.com” (this form of URL, i.e.xxx.xxx.com, is sometimes referred to as a “third level domain name”).For example, for an embodiment in which the group for which theinvention is implemented comprises doctors admitted to practice medicinein the U.S., and for which a URL for the interface server is“everymd.com”, the e-mail address for a doctor whose name is John H.Smith may be established as “jhsmith@everymd.com” and the correspondingwebsite URL may be established as “jhsmith.everymd.com”. The e-mailaddress and URL are thus virtually identical. The only difference isthat in the URL the “@” symbol of the e-mail address is replaced with aperiod (“.”). Establishing URL's and e-mail addresses in this mannerprovides easy to remember URL/e-mail address pairs. In a more generalembodiment, the URL's are established for members of the group in theform “name@subdomain.domain”, while e-mail addresses are established inthe form “name@subdomain.domain”.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a computer system that may be used withone or more embodiments of the invention. The computer system of FIG. 10may be used, for example, as a user computer, interface server computer,or contact data base server in one or more embodiments of the invention.An embodiment of the invention can be implemented as computer softwarein the form of computer readable code executed on one or more generalpurpose computers such as computer 1000 illustrated in FIG. 10, or inthe form of bytecode class files executable within a Java™ runtimeenvironment running on such a computer, or in the form of bytecodesrunning on a processor (or devices enabled to process bytecodes)existing in a distributed environment (e.g., one or more processors on anetwork). A keyboard 1010 and mouse 1011 are coupled to a system bus1018. The keyboard and mouse are for introducing user input to thecomputer system and communicating that user input to processor 1013.Other suitable input devices may be used in addition to, or in place of,the mouse 1011 and keyboard 1010. I/O (input/output) unit 1019 coupledto system bus 1018 represents such I/O elements as a printer, A/V(audio/video) I/O, etc.

Computer 1000 includes a video memory 1014, main memory 1015 and massstorage 1012, all coupled to system bus 1018 along with keyboard 1010,mouse 1011 and processor 1013. The mass storage 1012 may include bothfixed and removable media, such as magnetic, optical or magnetic opticalstorage systems or any other available mass storage technology. Bus 1018may contain, for example, thirty-two address lines for addressing videomemory 1014 or main memory 1015. The system bus 1018 also includes, forexample, a 64-bit data bus for transferring data between and among thecomponents, such as processor 1013, main memory 1015, video memory 1014and mass storage 1012. Alternatively, multiplex data/address lines maybe used instead of separate data and address lines.

In one embodiment of the invention, the processor 1013 is amicroprocessor manufactured by Sun Microsystems, Inc., such as theSPARC.™ microprocessor, or a microprocessor manufactured by Motorola,such as the 680X0 processor, or a microprocessor manufactured by Intel,such as the 80X86, or Pentium processor. However, any other suitablemicroprocessor or microcomputer may be utilized. Main memory 1015 iscomprised of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Video memory 1014 is adual-ported video random access memory. One port of the video memory1014 is coupled to video amplifier 1016. The video amplifier 1016 isused to drive the cathode ray tube (CRT) raster monitor 101.7. Videoamplifier 1016 is well known in the art and may be implemented by anysuitable apparatus. This circuitry converts pixel data stored in videomemory 1014 to a raster signal suitable for use by monitor 1017. Monitor1017 is a type of monitor suitable for displaying graphic images.

Computer 1000 may also include a communication interface 1020 coupled tobus 1018. Communication interface 1020 provides a two-way datacommunication coupling via a network link 1021 to a local network 1022.For example, if communication interface 1020 is an integrated servicesdigital network (ISDN) card or a modem, communication interface 1020provides a data communication connection to the corresponding type oftelephone line, which comprises part of network link 1021. Ifcommunication interface 1020 is a local area network (LAN) card,communication interface 1020 provides a data communication connectionvia network link 1021 to a compatible LAN. Wireless links are alsopossible. In any such implementation, communication interface 1020 sendsand receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals which carrydigital data streams representing various types of information.

Network link 1021 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, network link 1021 mayprovide a connection through local network 1022 to local server computer1023 or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP)1024. ISP 1024 in turn provides data communication services through theworld wide packet data communication network referred to as the“Internet” 1025. Local network 1022 and Internet 1025 both useelectrical, electromagnetic and/or optical signals to carry digital datastreams. The signals through the various networks and the signals onnetwork link 1021 and through communication interface 1020, which carrythe digital data to and from computer 1000, are exemplary forms ofcarrier waves transporting the information.

Computer 1000 can send messages and receive data, including program codeand HTML code, through the network(s), network link 1021, andcommunication interface 1020. In the Internet example, remote servercomputer 1026 might transmit a requested code for an application programor HTML code for a requested webpage through Internet 1025, ISP 1024,local network 1022 and communication interface 1020. In accord with theinvention, one such downloaded webpage is a user interface provided bythe interface server in an embodiment of the invention.

The received code may be executed by processor 1013 as it is received,and/or stored in mass storage 1012, or other non-volatile storage forlater execution. In this manner, computer 1000 may obtain applicationcode in the form of a carrier wave.

Application code may be embodied in any form of computer programproduct. A computer program product comprises a medium configured tostore or transport computer readable code, or in which computer readablecode may be embedded. Some examples of computer program products areCD-ROM disks, ROM cards, floppy disks, magnetic tapes, computer harddrives, servers on a network, and carrier waves.

The computer systems described above are for purposes of example only.An embodiment of the invention may be implemented in any type ofcomputer system or programming or processing environment.

Thus, a method, apparatus and business system for providing on-linecommunications with diverse on-line and off-line recipients has beendisclosed. Although the invention has been described using certainspecific examples, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatthe invention is not limited to these few examples. For example,although the user interface provided by the interface server has beendescribed as being provided to a user via an internet webpage, theinterface may be provided in another form. For example, in one or moreembodiments, the interface is provided in the form of a voice mail menusystem accessed by a user using a telephone instead of a computer orother internet access device. Further, although certain functions havebeen described herein as being provided by an interface server computer,those functions may be provided by one or more other devices. Otherembodiments utilizing the inventive features of the present inventionwill be apparent to those skilled in the art.

1. A method for providing individual online presences for a each of aplurality of members of a group of members by an interface servercomputer comprising the steps of: maintaining a database comprisinginformation associated with each of said plurality of members at adatabase system connected to said interface server computer; allottingindividual URLS to each of said plurality of members by associating anindividual URL with each individual member of said plurality of membersin said database system; associating an individual home page for eachsaid individual member of said plurality of members with said individualURL allotted to said individual member in said database system, saidindividual home page comprising information from said databaseassociated with said individual member; a first control for submitting acomment about said individual member; and a second control separate fromsaid first control for sending a message other than said comment to saidindividual member; receiving by said interface server an online requestfor said individual URL from a requesting source; providing saidindividual home page by said interface server computer to saidrequesting source.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the stepof providing by said interface server computer a message entry interfacein response to activation of said second control.
 3. The method of claim1 further comprising the step of providing by said interface servercomputer a comment entry interface in response to activation of saidfirst control.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said individual homepage further comprises a link to an existing website of said individualmember.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein said individual home pagefurther comprises rating information associated with said individualmember.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein said individual home pagefurther comprises a control for submitting rating information for saidindividual member.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the stepof providing a rating entry interface by said interface server computerin response to activation of a control of said individual home page. 8.The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of receiving by saidinterface server computer a message entered into said message entryinterface.
 9. The method of claim 3 further comprising the step ofreceiving by said interface server computer a comment entered into saidcomment entry interface.
 10. The method of claim 9 further comprisingthe step of displaying by said interface server computer a ratingcomprising said comment on said individual home page.
 11. The method ofclaim 7 further comprising the step of receiving by said interfaceserver computer rating information entered into said rating entryinterface.
 12. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step ofsending by said interface server computer a message to an existinge-mail address for said individual member in response to receiving saidmessage entered into said message entry interface.
 13. The method ofclaim 8 further comprising the step of sending by said interface servercomputer a reply message to a sender of said message entered into saidmessage entry area.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein said step ofsending a reply message by said interface server computer to said sendercomprises sending a message to an e-mail address created for saidsender.
 15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step ofdisplaying rating information for said individual member by saidinterface server computer on said individual home page.